I nod.
“And Daddy…” I turn toward the open door and the writhing shadows within, “no more destroying my house every time a man with good intent looks at me.You want me?You’ve got me.But you don’t get to cage me unless someone actively wants to do me harm.Like today.You did good.Thank you.”
The shadows pulse once, seeming resistant.
“I mean it,” I say.“You scared off whoever that was today.You saved me.But if you can’t control yourself around these two, you and I are going to have a problem.”
The writhing shadows shudder, which isn’t really an answer.I guess I’ll have to buy him a leash or something to help contain him.
I look back at James and Eddie.“Can we do this?Can we figure out how to exist in the same space without killing each other?”
“While fucking each other?”James asks, his eyes sparkling with his smile.
Eddie shoots him a murderous look.
“Both,” I say flatly.“We need to figure out both.”
The absurdity of it almost makes me laugh.Almost.A ghost, a stalker, and a detective, all circling the same broken woman like she’s the last light in a dying world.
My court.
My beautiful, fucked-up, dangerously unstable court.
“Rules, sure.Fine.”James runs his hands through his hair, making it spike in all directions, and nods.
Eddie sighs.“I’ll run the footage.Quietly.But if this comes back on me professionally—“
“It willnae come back on ye,” James tells him flatly.
“I ought to arrest you, you walking felony,” the detective says.
James grins.“Ye can try.See how that goes for ye, aye?”
Eddie rolls his eyes.
“I’ll take ye to work, Prayer, while your detective fondles your car,” James offers.“I’ll park myself in the lot and keep watch over ye.”
I start to nod, but something else strikes me then.“You have cameras at Gas N’ Go, too, don’t you?That’s how you saw—“
I snap my mouth shut.That’s how he saw Rick, my former boss, and me in the storeroom just before he stalked in and killed him.
Eddie narrows his eyes at James.“What is it exactly that you do anyway?Other than play Big Brother with a hard-on?”
James shrugs.“Freelance.”
“For?”
“For folks with a lot of money and a lot of problems.Folks who dinnae like questions.”
“But not so much money that you can’t afford quality cameras to watch Sera?”Eddie fires back.
James smiles and gives Eddie a patronizing pat on the cheek, which Eddie angrily bats away.“Ye try buying the quality ones in bulk for extracurriculars on the sheriff department’s dime.See who’s the numpty then.”
“Anyway.“ I straighten my ruined shirt as best I can.“I’ve got work.So do the both of you.I need to shower and change into clothes that aren’t confetti.”
I shoo them off the porch, but neither of them moves.
James’s eyes linger on the bite mark on my shoulder.Something feral and hungry flashes in his gaze, but he steps back.“I’ll be in my van when you’re ready.”
